These statues are at the entrance to Foothill Ranch at the intersection of Alton Parkway and Portola Parkway. While they have been there for a while now, they have always kinda creeped me out.

They say to me obey, conform, consume, procreate, rinse, repeat. It is not just the stone faces, expressionless look, but also the postures and spacing of the people. It doesn’t really say family to me. I don’t think that was the intention, but it is the vibe myself and others I know get.
Click each picture for a larger version-What do you think?

Spotted this odd cavalcade outside the Ralph’s on Main and Chapman. Orange PD specialty unit motor home thing, followed by an OPD trailer, 6 motor officers, 3 cars and about a dozen officers (possibly
cadets) on foot. WTF??

The 18th annual Sawdust Festival starts this weekend in Laguna Beach and runs every weekend through December 14th. Saturday is the official kick-off, with a tree lighting ceremony at 5:30 p.m., plus free cookies and apple cider, choir and band performances, a balloon artist and, of course, Santa!

Featuring 175 crafters and one-of-a-kind gifts, the Festival also has low cost art lessons for kids and adults, demonstrations, entertainment, a kid-sized holiday themed fun house, and three cafes to satisfy your hunger during all that exhausting shopping.

There is an ArtisTree Ornament Fundraiser, which features original ornaments created by local artists, with proceeds from the sale going to the Art Education Fund.

And the best thing? Snow! Every day during the festival, snow will fall throughout the day in the Town Square. Time to turn the beach bunnies into snow bunnies, even if only for a day!

Deets:
Information Line (949)494-3030
Hours from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekends only (open rain or shine)
Website

Hey there, it’s Friday! Time to kick back and and get ready for the weekend, and the upcoming holiday, of course.

So if you’re at work and possibly bored, or at home and possibly bored, do yourself a favor and check out some of the very cool photos that are being posted on the Metroblogging Orange County Flickr stream. There are some especially fabulous ones from Jason in Huntington and Suzoc.

From my inbox:

Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts
PRESENTS THE WORLD PREMIERE OF
THE DOCUMENTARY GIANT STEPS

Film Produced by Students as Part of
Chapman’s New Inter-Disciplinary Documentary Program

Chapman University’s Dodge College of Film and Media Arts proudly presents the world premiere of Giant Steps, a documentary about how dance is changing the lives of at-risk kids in Cambodia, on Monday, November 24 at 7PM in the Folino Theatre. Completed in conjunction with Chapman University School of Law and Chapman’s Wilkinson College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the film is the first product of Chapman’s new interdisciplinary documentary program, which sends teams of students around the world to profile leading human rights and development organizations. The screening is free and open to the public and includes a Q-and-A with student filmmakers and a reception with live Cambodian music and ethnic cuisine following the film.

Speaking of the season, tomorrow night marks the “arrival” of Santa in Costa Mesa for South Coast Plaza’s annual tree-lighting ceremony. Attendees can enjoy performances by the Orange County High School of the Arts, plus receive special gifts from “Santa’s helpers.” (Use caution when accepting gifts from strange, pointy-eared elves in tights.)

So, stop on by Town Center Park (next to the Westin) before the festivities begin at 6:00 P.M tomorrow, November 20, 2008. Then, starting Friday, November 21 at 10:00 A.M., Santa will make himself available for photo ops with the little kiddies. ‘Cause nothing says ’tis the season like overpriced photos and early holiday shopping!

I love that in California, we can wear a t-shirt, shorts and sandals while setting up christmas decorations.

Tis the season!!!

Goes out to the chick with the brown hair in the compact car driving Westbound on the 91 freeway Monday afternoon.

Why Gina? Why does this woman receive the award for biggest fucktard for the month of November? And November isn’t even over yet!

My friends, she gets the award because as she was driving past plumes of smoke from the hills to her right, past charred hillsides and burned homes, she was flicking ashes from her lit cigarette out her window.

If I could have, I would have grabbed that cigarette and shoved it up her nose.

Saturday morning dawned bright and hot. We had no real plans, and I actually thought we could go to Home Depot and do some much-delayed home improvement projects.

About 9:30, I smelled smoke. I looked out my kitchen window and saw it billowing up, a bit closer than was comforting. Since the wind was blowing pretty hard, I quickly closed the windows and tried to plan out which parts of the house needed fixing the most.

As we began our plotting, the sunlight in our front patio took on that surreal orange-ish glow that means you are the proud recipient of smoke. And lots of it. Sooner rather than later, instead of blue sky, every window of our house displayed a view of a blackish, orange-ish apocalyptic sky. From our bedroom window, we could see the plume of smoke curling up into the sky from the fires in Brea.

I tried not to panic. I told my husband that although I knew from the news reports that the fire was in Yorba Linda and Brea, I was fighting thousands of years of evolution that had hard-wired my brain to scream at me to run away as fast as I could. And I was losing. The house was getting smokier by the minute, and I was, to put it mildly, concerned.

We weighed the pros and cons of leaving. My husband had gone outside and watered down the brush in back of us, as we are perched at the top of a ravine. He wanted to stay. He tried to assure me that the fires were on the other side of the freeway and that we would be fine. Then my sister called and said that the news had just reported that the fire had jumped the freeway into Anaheim Hills.

You didn’t have to tell me twice to get out of Dodge.

I threw together some clothes and things for an overnight stay at my sister’s, if that needed to happen. We weren’t formally evacuated, but we are about a mile down from the area that was. Close enough for me. Especially since the damn ravine, full of nice juicy fire-food, is right below us.

By that point they had shut the 91 West down at Weir Canyon, and the sight of all these cars using what are normally on-ramps as off-ramps, and seeing traffic going the wrong way on the freeway made for a sight that was bemusing and frightening at the same time.

We spent the bulk of our weekend at my sister’s house by the beach, although my husband stayed to watch our property. Some sort of man-thing, I’m told.

I was only slightly inconvenienced. I had to leave my house in a little bit of a hurry and stay somewhere else for a very short amount of time. The telling of this story is in no way intended to minimize the experience of many, many more who were very close to losing their homes, or worse, those who actually did.

Although upon returning with my son today, it was hard to see our beloved hills so blackened and charred, as well as the ominous plumes of smoke still pouring into the sky signalling that it ain’t over yet by a long shot. Thank goodness the injuries reported so far are minor, and no fatalities, which is a blessing beyond belief.

We who live out here on the edge of the “wilderness” like to think that living here is akin to living in our own little private paradise. The rivers, the trees, the hills, all of the natural beauty makes us feel better. And maybe a little special, to be honest. But in the back of our minds, we know that we are perhaps gambling a bit. How could we not, living as we do in fire-prone Southern California?

Usually, we place our chips on red or black. And we come out winners. But yesterday, the trusty roulette ball landed, ironically, on green. Because unfortunately, for life in SoCal, there is no sure bet.

I can’t believe how quickly these fires have progressed! I hope everyone has gotten out OK! Especially my friends……

Went in to see an early movie and it was all clear. Came out two hours later this was what I saw:

[View from The Block @ Orange]

It’s dark and spooky and oddly quiet outside - it’s like all the smoke from the Brea fire and the Yorba Linda fire is just sucking the sound right out of the atmosphere. Anaheim Hills is under mandatory evacuation - be careful out there Gina - and stay off the 57 and 91!

The fire information phone line for people in Orange County is: 714-573-6200

Evacuation centers are located at:

Esperanza High School
1830 N Kellogg Dr.
Anaheim

and

Travis Ranch Activity Center
5200 Via De Escuela
Yorba Linda

I’m in Anaheim Hills, and folks, the smoke from the Yorba Linda fire is bad. The damage to some homes is fairly catastrophic, so our hearts to go to them. The sun has been essentially blocked out since around 10am. We’re thinking about leaving to HB if the smoke gets any worse. I knew we should have gotten those dual paned windows!

There is a fire that started not too long ago that looks to be in Brea. So everybody, stay safe!

Oh, the life of an Arrested Development fan.

One day things are chugging along just fine, and the one of the best shows on the planet, which just so happens to be set in Orange County, wins various awards.

Great, you say to yourself.

Emmys! How could they cancel a show that won Emmys?

Heh.

You cry as Michael delivers his speech on the yacht, thinking this will be the last damn time you will see this cast together.

Oh, there have been rumors before about a movie getting made, but you’ve learned to harden your heart. After all, you’ve been hurt before.

Then along comes Jeffrey Tambor saying that Mitch Hurwitz, aka “The Man” has said it’s a go.

Please, don’t let my heart get broken again. If I have to rip off the band-aids I’ve got on there now, it’s gonna hurt.

A popular restaurant chain is looking to make a comeback, and they want to start in OC.

Ahhhh, I can see it in my mind’s eye.

The old-timey uniforms, with vests and jaunty wide-brimmed hats. The early 1900’s-inspired decor, complete with player piano. That large section of candy that your parents had to take you through in order to pay the bill, where they had to stave off the begging for one of those braided circular lollipops.

Not that you hadn’t already had more than your week’s daily allowance of sugar, and whatever unhealthy dollop of fat you had decided to order. Personally, I always had one of the hot dogs. Mmmmm, nitrates never tasted so good!

Am I ringing any bells? Or should I say, sirens? You know, with troughs of ice cream being served on stretchers?

Yup, you guessed it! Farrell’s!

I am pathetically excited.

Image via

The new Mother’s Market in Santa Ana has been open for a few days now, but I haven’t had the chance to visit it until today. For the most part, I give them a thumbs up!

Selection
They have a nice selection of canned, boxed, jarred, and frozen food items. I was thrilled to find that they carry the Quorn brand of frozen “chicken”, as well as a variety of seitan and tempeh, all of which I could previously only find at Whole Foods. The fresh meat fridge seemed a little sparse on my trip today, but the produce section was well-stocked. As someone who doesn’t have a lot of time (or energy) to cook decent meals, I was a little disappointed that I didn’t find much in the way of pre-packaged, freshly made, ready-to-heat meals. Fresh & Easy has a killer selection of these, and Trader Joe’s is getting there, so I was hoping the same for Mother’s. They do, however, offer some fresh refrigerated items, as well as self-serve cold and hot food bar; while nowhere near as plentiful as Whole Foods’, it’s nice to have something closer to home.

As far as non-food items, I thought Mother’s has a nice selection. Lots of bath and body items, makeup, pet food, house cleaners, and detergents, many of which are organic, fairly traded, etc. For parents, Mother’s also carries a few organic clothing items for babies, organic formula and baby food (both jarred and frozen), as well as diapers by Seventh Generation, gDiapers, and (I think) Tushies.

Price
Probably not as expensive as Whole Foods, but definitely not cheaper than Trader Joe’s. The cheapest jar of organic spaghetti sauce was around $3 and change, whereas I believe it’s $2.99 at TJ’s. Their hot and cold food bar is $6.99 a pound, a dollar less per pound than Whole Foods. While I spent less at Mother’s today than I would have if I had done my weekly grocery trip at TJ’s or Fresh & Easy, I don’t feel like I bought that much and I will probably need another trip out for food later in the week.